Why can aluminium be hammered into sheets?

Question

Is it something to do with quenching and annealing?

Answer 1

depends on the alloy. pure aluminum is very brittle and is nether malleable nor ductile (able to be drawn into wire). if malleable impurities are added it can become malleable. annealing will make metal harder (specifically the outside) and quenching is not generally done to aluminum. quenching is part of heat treating where a hot metal is dropped into oil. aluminum is not compatible with most natural oils, so, other heat treating processes that dont require quenching are used.

Answer 2

Aluminum is a metal. Metals are malleable. Malleable means hammered into sheets.